Now Reading: Two firefighting helicopters collide near Athens as Europe burns
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Two firefighting helicopters collide near Athens as Europe burns
Two firefighting helicopters collide near Athens as Europe burns
Two firefighting helicopters collided midair on Sunday near Porto Germeno, west of Athens, while battling a wind-driven wildfire. Each carried a two-person crew; a search-and-rescue operation was underway. The collision is the…
The Story in Brief
Two firefighting helicopters collided midair on Sunday near Porto Germeno, west of Athens, while battling a wind-driven wildfire. Each carried a two-person crew; a search-and-rescue operation was underway. The collision is the latest crisis in a continental wildfire emergency that has killed three firefighters in Greece.
France's Gironde megafire, four times the size of Paris, remained contained but still burning after scorching 420 sq km of forest. It forced 224,000 people to flee in what may be the country's largest civilian evacuation outside wartime. Spanish fires have stopped advancing. Scientists from World Weather Attribution found that climate change made the extreme fire-weather at least twice as likely.
The Indian Opinion
European wildfire coverage often focuses on record scale and climate attribution, but the same peril receives far less attention in India, where forest fires kill dozens every year during dry months. While European nations can mobilise cross-border aircraft and thousands of firefighters, Indian states rarely coordinate beyond their borders. A concrete test will come in the next fire season: will Greece and France invest in preventive measures, such as clearing firebreaks and enforcing building codes, or will they rely solely on suppression, as India largely does?
Sources (2): thehindu.com, thehindu.com (2)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
